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EU considers U.N.-style Iran sanctions: sources

By Sophie Walker

Reuters
Friday, January 19, 2007; 7:25 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union is looking at ways to
apply United Nations sanctions against Iran and may expand the
list of people linked to Tehran's nuclear program targeted by
the U.N. resolution, sources said on Friday.

Tehran maintains that its nuclear ambitions are limited to
generating electricity. The European Union and the United
States suspect Tehran is secretly seeking to build nuclear
bombs.

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They say it will face harsher sanctions if it ignores the
resolution unanimously passed on December 23 at the behest of
the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France. The
resolution gave Iran 60 days to suspend nuclear fuel-enrichment
activity.

Foreign ministers from EU states are due to meet on Monday
to consider an interpretation of the current range of
sanctions, government and diplomatic sources said on Friday.

"We shall be looking for the EU to implement the measures
in a way that is thorough and effective," one British official
said.

The U.N. sanctions resolution bans transfers of sensitive
nuclear materials to Iran, freezes financial assets of those
associated with the nuclear program and asks countries to pass
on information about the whereabouts of individuals on the
list.

"We want the outcome (of the meeting) to reinforce the
resolution so that the EU interpretation will not be limited to
the names currently on the resolution's annexe," a diplomatic
source said.

"We will be looking to broaden the resolutions to allow us
to impose travel bans and freeze assets of other individuals,"
the source said.

Formalizing an arms embargo in a legally binding way is no
longer on the agenda after ambassadors of the 27 EU states
discussed and agreed on Thursday a text on Iran for the meeting
next week, other diplomatic sources said.

"It's sort of symbolic, to show Europe is united in the
face of Iranian defiance," a European diplomat said.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner told
reporters that Germany's priority on Iran during its six-month
EU presidency was to make sure the U.N. Security Council
resolution imposing sanctions against Iran is fully
implemented.

"We're working successfully on achieving this goal and are
optimistic that the (EU) foreign ministers can make a political
decision in this direction on Monday in Brussels," he said.

Iran said earlier this week it was ready to begin
installing 3,000 centrifuges for industrial-scale production of
nuclear fuel. That prompted a warning from British Foreign
Secretary Margaret Beckett that Tehran's stance was not
"cost-free."

Diplomats confirmed Iran's statement on Thursday, saying it
had completed preparations at an underground plant where the
3,000 centrifuges are to be rigged up, expanding what to date
has been a limited, research-level enrichment program.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency
visited the Natanz enrichment complex over the past week to
gather material for an IAEA report due to be issued to the U.N.
Security Council on February 21, the 60-day deadline.